Skype has just pushed out its latest update for Mac OS X, which includes a number of enhancements to existing features, as well as support for OS X Mountain Lion. The company promises that contacts lists, video calls to mobile devices, and screen sharing are all much-improved in version 5.8.

Skype has finally realized that the full-screen user interface it introduced in 5.0 isn’t for everyone, and has now reintroduced the “slim” contacts list, so that users can reposition and resize their contacts as they wish.

Video calls to mobile devices have also been enhanced:

When you’re talking with someone who is using Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad or Skype for Android and that person rotates their mobile device from portrait to landscape (or the other way around), Skype for Mac will now detect this and automatically re-orient the video call. If you’ve held or plan to hold a video call with someone who is using Skype for Windows Phone, the same auto-rotation feature is already supported.

Screen sharing is also now possible with multiple people, and you also have the ability to stream video as well as photos. “The latest Mac release will simultaneously display your live video alongside your photos, so your friends can also see you and you can see their reactions,” Skype says.

Finally, Skype is now fully compatible Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion release next month, so you won’t need to worry about losing your Skype functionality when you upgrade.

It’s a nice improvement, but the contact list still needs a major overhaul. The design is still flawed, but this update definitely allows you to make it smaller without squishing the contact names out of existence. I am still skeptical that Skype under Microsoft is going to show love to the Mac community in future releases.

Philip_G_Morgan

I‘m sick of the too many VoIP’s in the market. They claim so much and the output is duuhhh! It doesn’t work for me though! Does anyone know a quality standard VoIP that runs great on my iPhone 3G? Offering great voice quality but cheap Calls to mobile phones and landlines? Works on 3G? Supporting Group Video Calls is a plus as I need to commute for my business purposes. there are lot of group calling apps out in the market but they all have different stories. skype charge to much for group calls. others don’t provide it for multiple users same time like oovoo and fring. just read about friendcaller who provide 7 way group video chat, is it true? here is the reference http://fc.vc/group-video-chat Thank you in advance. Looking forward for help from great people here :)